[PeakOiler]

Organic Pesticides and Insect Repellants:
I am in the process of planting a small peach orchard. Can anyone post a website that relates natural pesticides or insect repellants that I can spray on the peach trees?

I am going to build some bat houses, but it can take two years or more before fruit bats may roost in them. Thanks in advance.

[Ludi]

The best thing to do is not spray at all. Try to encourage diversity in your orchard by planting a lot of flowers and herbs between the trees.

Spraying just upsets the balance between pests and pest predators, so best just to avoid it altogether.

Incidentally, there are no "fruit bats" in Texas.

[killJOY]

We grow peaches (just a few) in the Northeast, and there are far fewer pests on the peaches than there are on the apples. Peaches seem much more disease-free. There is a problem when the Japanese beetles are around, and deer cause more damage than bugs.


Make sure first you have a high fence....

[RonMN]

I've also heard not to spray. Planting things like marigolds & garlic between the trees should help some. also you can do things like harvest the peaches a tad-bit early & let ripen indoors. There are most likely other flowers that will keep away pests as well.

after a marigold blooms & the flower dies, what's left is a seed head...collect those for next years planting of marigolds.

[PeakOiler]

<<Incidentally, there are no "fruit bats" in Texas.>>

Learn something new every day...
A misconception I had was that fruit bats would compliment fruit trees, but as it turns out, they eat the fruit! I certainly am glad there aren't fruit bats in Texas!
Thanks for pointing that out.

I Googled "organic pesticides" and read a few articles. I learned that "organic" pesticides can contain the same chemicals that inorganic pesticides do, so the suggestions of not spraying at all is a good idea.

Last year, however, some of the peaches, not all, had one or two small white worms in them. ewww. I used no insecticides or repellants at all last year.

I also read that solutions of dish detergent, garlic, onion, or hot pepper extracts have no (or low) toxicity.

[frankthetank]

Watch out for those squirrels, they'll do damage!

I'm also planting a peach tree (just one ) and have read to spray copper sulfate...i'll probably do what people here are saying...a good place to read about this stuff from some pros is here

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex/

I'm planting an Elberta...

[rerere]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeakOiler', ' ')Can anyone post a website that relates natural pesticides or insect repellants that I can spray on the peach trees?

[JR]

I recently read on the Homesteading forum I belong to of a solution to Japanese Beetles. I am going to try it next year...too late this year. But, I guess Milky Spore if it's placed in your garden before the larvae of the Jap. Beetle can mature will kill them and provide protection from them for upwards of 10 years. Not sure if it works...but, I'm willing to try it. I had a terrible time with them last year.




JR

[JEMASCOLA]

How are these deritives of petroleum?

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JEMASCOLA', 'H')ow are these deritives of petroleum?

[JEMASCOLA]

Thank you for that very interesting information and for finding those links. It looks as though if we want a food system that doesn't rely heavily on fossil fuels, we all may have to have our own local gardens or whatnot so that shipping is less of a concern, etc., etc., etc.

Did you know that hemp can produce many of the products that oil can? Hemp can be used to make plastics, building supplies, some medicines, grooming products, oil, and well, you get the idea. The problem, though, is that industrial use of hemp was banned in 1937.

[TheDude]

I'm a bit wary of eating anything from my back yard as I know my Dad has dumped Roundup on weeds for almost 20 years. What happens to that stuff? Any advice on de-toxifying land, like, uh, allowing rain to fall on it?
Bit out of my element if you haven't guessed.

[blukatzen]

You want to look up "Glyphosates", for that is what Roundup is. I found gobs of information on a quick yahoo search.
Pesticideinfo.org has good information on what you want, but I did like some of the information at http://www.naturescountrystore.com/roundup/index.html

Remember, we are dealing with Monsanto. That says it all, I think.

For alternatives, Corn Gluten meal has been suggested,
http://www.american-lawns.com/lawns/cor ... _meal.html

but why not get rid of lawns altogether? Or learn to eat the dandelions that grow in them? (very nutritious).

As to how to get rid of the glyphosate residue that IS there?...one could suggest to truck in new soil after the other soil up to several feet is taken away, but what guarantees nowadays do we have that the incoming topsoil has not been contaminated by soil pesticides, or other toxic wastes?

What to do..what to do..what to do..topsoil is a very precious resource, and we are screwing up our black gold, and the even more precious mycelium/fungi network that makes the soil alive by folks that *claim* that we all must have that PERFECT lawn.

I am one horticulturist that disagrees.
I CERTAINLY don't push it at my garden centers.

[sicophiliac]

I dont know about herbicides but for todays insecticides half life is probably a month or two at best. I have customers who get thier homes sprayed once a month and the ants still get through during summer. Plus pyrethrins are plant derived chemicals that are used to treat most common insect pests these days.

[cynthia]

I'm almost too sleepy here on the west coast to be of much help but one clean-up crop that should not be eaten after harvesting involve the squash(Cucurbita spp.) family. They pull the toxins out of the ground and can be composted and supposedly the compost can be incorporated at a later date into the garden. This I read years ago. Start there with your research.
Look into oregontilth.org
Round-up and even DDT prevail in our food chain.
Keep asking and searching. You are on the right track!
Nighty night!
cynthia

[MalcolmV]

The way Monsatan treats their customers may be evil, but glysophate is not.In 5 days the soil microorganisms break it down to simple, inert organic compounds.
In a garden you spray it on growing weeds, they die, 5 days later you plant. The glysophate is gone and there is no effect on the crop plant or residual in the produce. I know a fellow who re-establishes tall grass prairie, he says the only way to do it is with Roundup. But he has a problem with alot of anti-pesticide people who won't use it.
IMHO 1/2 or 1 liter per acre of Roundup uses a lot less energy than the 2 to 5 extra trips over the field to control weeds by cultivation.

[dooberheim]

Glyphosate is composed of the amino acid glycine with a phosphonate group stuck to it's amino group. It works in plants by blocking the shikimic acid pathway by which plants synthesize aromatic amino acids like phenylalanine and tyrosine. Mammals don't have that pathway (that's why we need a source of these amino acids in our diet).

As MalcolmV stated, glyphosate is rapidly degraded in soil, and even if one did pick up some in food, it would probably be treated as food by your body. It's one of the safest herbicides ever developed.

DK

[dukey]

[flash width=425 height=350]http://www.youtube.com/v/FFAi3gV2DwA[/flash]

part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSnJIu7PCVI
part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndW2tHHAUwI
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'G')overnment EPA approved experimentation using pesicides on babies & children

[Tanada]

The three biggest lies of the modern Human Race:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')f course I will still love you in the Morning!

The check is In The Mail!

And the biggest lie of all time.....Greetings, I am from the Government and I am here to Help You!

[Newsseeker]

The US gov conducted biological warfare on its citizens a few decades ago. Makes me wonder if they've stopped.